VEST ACTED IRRATIONALLY IN RECALLING FRESHMAN PICTURE BOOK
There is a picture of a monkey on the back page of the August 26 issue
of The Tech. The picture was printed without racist intent and cannot
be reasonably considered racist in nature. Yet the same picture was
banned from appearing on the Freshman Picture Book by MIT President
Charles M. Vest because the "symbolism of a monkey-type creature has
traditionally been used in a racist manner."
Yes, there is a possibility that some individual could misinterpret
this picture as being racist. Surely, if such an individual exists at
MIT, the administration should be trying to educate him about the
nature of true racism and the dangers of crying wolf, not catering to
their misguided perceptions.
I would prefer that President Vest allocate MIT resources to fostering
debate about racism and to providing a diverse multicultural
environment at MIT, not to running off new covers of a Freshman
Picture Book which may potentially have offended one in ten thousand
members of the MIT community.
By recalling the book, President Vest lends credence to a witch-hunt
culture of blame and false accusation. When Khomeini banned Salman
Rushdie's Satanic Verses because it was genuinely offensive to
millions of people, it was transformed from an unheard-of book to a
notorious novel atop the best seller list.
This picture and the monkey business surrounding it, is likely to
travel a similar road, as evidenced by The Tech article ["Picture Book
Called Offensive, Will Be Replaced"], this letter, and its likely
appearance on the Rush Limbaugh show in the near future.
President Vest has lost sight of his role as president of this
university. He should be ensuring freedom of the press and of
expression and providing an atmosphere conducive to an excellent
education. Instead, he has caved in to a specious perceived threat
from an apparently nonexistent person and begun irrational banning of
innocuous pictures.
Students cannot be educated about racism by removing even the
slightest possibility of conflict from their lives. If President Vest,
or anyone else, disagrees with or takes offense at this letter, I hope
that the response will not be to label it racist and ban it. Rather, I
look forward to being entertained by some of the scholarly debate that
belongs at an institution of higher learning. Keith D. Alverson G
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Copyright 1994, The Tech. All rights reserved.
This story was published on August 28, 1994.
Volume 114, Number 33.
This story appeared on page 4.
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